Israel Launches ‘Wide-Scale Attack’ Against Hamas Targets in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have announced that one of their soldiers was murdered by a Palestinian sniper on July 20.

Four Palestinians were also killed by Israeli fire Friday, including three Hamas militants, during the Israeli retaliatory bombardment.

The Israeli Defence Force did not name the soldier, but said he had been hit by Palestinian gunfire.

Israel says it is defending its sovereign border and accuses Hamas, a group sworn to its destruction, of using the protests as cover for attempts to breach the border fence and attack civilians and soldiers.

Conricus said that he did not have details of which Palestinian faction carried out the shooting attack but that Israel holds Hamas responsible for all attacks from Gaza. "The IDF expresses its heartfelt condolences, and will continue to support the family", the military said in a statement. The Gaza Health Ministry said four Palestinians were killed.

Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip gather once again along the so-called buffer zone for a fresh anti-Israel protest.

The firm response comes months after IDF forces clashed with Hamas-backed militants in Gaza, killing dozens as they attempted to enter Israel illegally.

The protests are partly meant to draw attention to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. More than 130 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the protests started on March 30.

Local sources told Ma'an that hundreds of Gaza residents raced to the return camps along the eastern border of the Gaza Strip to participate in a protest, where they demonstrated against UNWRA's scheme against the rights of refugees.

Last weekend saw the most severe bout of daytime fighting since the last Gaza war in 2014.

Israel's government initially saw the airborne tools of arson as a novel irritant and a less risky alternative to the rockets often fired by Hamas and other Islamist factions in Gaza.

Everyone in #Gaza needs to step back from the brink. "Those who want to provoke Palestinians and Israelis into another war must not succeed".